Meet STOX – The Prediction Platform

STOX is a mass market forecasting platform run in collaboration with Invest.com Group, which develops financial investment solutions. Stox will begin an initial coin offering (ICO) from to the public, on August 2nd. The ICO will last two weeks or until the cap is filled ($30 Million) and will be distributed to token investors based on the Ethereum (ERC-20) network. The tokens will enable the use of the forecasting platform, which is scheduled to launch in the middle of 2018.

The innovation lies in a platform that manages a prediction market in a smart model to foster cooperation in the token. It may sound confusing, but after reading there is no doubt that it will be much simpler.

Stox Application

What are forecasting markets and why are they so interesting?

By forecasting markets, it is possible to create an alternative market with the aim of trading the results of events such as elections, financial events, sports, weather and more. Market indices may indicate the wisdom of the masses, i.e. what the general public thinks. In this case, traders of the forecasting markets. In this way, it will be possible to know the probability of each scenario.

Are there any blockchain based prediction platforms out there?

Stox is not the first platform. Other competitors in this market include Augor and Gnosis, both of which are still in continuous development stages. Unlike its two major competitors, Stox benefits from collaboration with invest.com, giving Stox a promising start. The predictoin market capacity is huge and there is no doubt that there is room for a number of players.

STOX Roadmap

1. Initial fundraising will begin on August 2nd. The ICO will last 14 days or until reaches $30 million.

2. Development of the platform and SDK for users. This stage will be carried out by the end of 2017.

3. Application development and launch during the Q1 2018.

4. Full interface for the platform operators (such as invest.com) – during the Q2 2018.

5. Continuing the interface development, growing the ecosystem.

Structure of the parent company and existing infrastructure – invest.com

Invest.com was founded in 2014 with the intention of revolutionizing the online investment world by removing existing barriers and creating a diversified opportunity for alternative investments.
Invest group has more than 200 employees across five different countries worldwide. In 2016, the group had annual revenues of $50 million, with a total of 3 million registered users responsible for an annual trading volume of $12 billion. The user base, as noted, will upgrade its online operations on a new platform based on Stox’s Blockchain.

Invest Group has a number of companies, some of which specialize in dealing with regulators in regulated markets and some that specialize in managing an international working environment with an emphasis on the European Union. “Stox will present Invest.com, which is actually our first operator on its platform, but will be built in such a way as to allow independent operators to join and interface with its prediction system”, said Ophir Gartner, one of Stox’s founders: “In crypto we need more mixed companies, teams that have experienced crises and changes in the management of the company, experience in creating and expanding the circle of customers, etc. This usually does not exist in the younger crypto projects”.

Unlike other projects where a development team only comes up with a product idea, in the case of Stox, it is an established and active company that will skip its consolidation stage and can devote most of its efforts to developing the platform.

Why does the company need to raise funds and go for an ICO?Prediction tools based on Blockchain require complex development. The funds will be invested to cover development costs – the prediction platform, marketing, collaboration with different operators, a compatible application and for the creation of liquidity, to enable more reliable forecasting.

Stox’s forecasting platform, what sets it apart?

The trading platform is open source and enables forecasting events based on the wisdom of the crowds. In addition to the predictions operators will provide on the platform on a regular basis, it will be possible to open a prediction for each event. The platform will be compatible with all major operating systems and interfaces.

Among its bold features it is possible to easily manage a customer portfolio, design and human engineering means it’s suitable for the general public for daily use. Trading will be conducted through the STX token, anyone who wants to trade (submit a prediction) or open a prediction on a particular event will do so using STX tokens. When prediction begins, STX reserves will be allocated, which may increase market demand for STX (STX tokens will enter trading on exchanges right after the ICO ends).

The eco-system described above is divided into three levels: vendors, operators and end users. Vendors are responsible for developing the tools for working with the platform and marketing to end users, operators initialize predictions of events, and end users complete the puzzle and participate in those predictions. The platform encourages collaboration between vendors in order to increase traffic volumes and profitability for all parties involved.

When initializing a prediction, an oracle (a body or person who can be relied on) is chosen to blockchain-report the actual result of the prediction. There is an option to challenge the determination of the oracle within 24 hours of his report, which adds reliability and transparency to the prediction. Submission of an appeal costs some STX, a necessary condition in order to prevent the filing of false complaints.
Of course, we will not forget the users who ultimately make predictions for events from reality. Finally, the closer the predictions are to the result, the higher the reward will be. Click here for the platform demo video.

Technical information for the ICO

In return for 50% of the Tokens, the company wants to raise $ 30 million, which is actually the hard cap for the token sale. The rest of the tokens will be used finding strategic partners. A leading competitor Gnosis, for example, only sold 4% of its tokens to the public and all the rest (96%) was left for developers.

The participation in the ICO is only made possible using Ethereum, with a flat rate for everyone – 200 STX tokens for 1 ETH (there is no early entry bonus). As of this writing, the current price for each STX token is approximately $1.

4% Of the funds raised will be backed up by a Bancor smart contract. It’s a smart contract through which STX tokens can be converted into Bancor or Ethereum tokens without being dependent on an exchange. This provides investors with collateral for their investment. In speculative investments like ICOs, the importance of collateral is enormous in terms of the relief from anxiety they give the investors. Whether it’s a concern that the tokens will not be traded or there will be not enough liquidity to trade, or whether the use of the tokens will not be possible after all. The base value of the token is backed up by Bancor. The latter are backed by Ethereum. The STX token is the first ever to be backed by Bancor’s smart contract. Bancor recently raised $150 million from the public during its own ICO.

It cannot be claimed that this is a significant amount, yet “only” 4%. On the other hand, it is an unprecedented collaboration of two big crypto projects.

There is no information on the final number for the token supply, which means that since the sum of tokens to be distributed during the ICO is dependent on the price of ETH, the final amount of the tokens will be determined according to the value of ETH.

For those interested in investing, it is recommended that you take advantage of the days before the ICO in order to find a good entry point for purchasing Ethereum.

Bounty Program

The bounty is a bonus which is paid in tokens of the ICO in return for some marketing activities. Everyone can take part in this rewarding activity and win a share of the bounty. Stox’s bounty is paid for the following activities: Twitter retweets, Bitcointalk’s signature campaign, Bitcointalk’s thread language translations, Telegram friend invites, and more.

Stox allocates 0.25% of its funds for bounty rewards. Although it is a relatively low percentage, assuming Stox succeeds in its mission to raise $30 million, the bounty percentage is quite reasonable.

Stox on Wings

Wings platform allows anyone to predict the success of future ICOs in the crypto world. Wings’ Stox prediction campaign was allocated $250,000 to be distributed as STX and ETH tokens. The distribution will be done equally, i.e. $125,000 equivalent in each token.

The Bottom line

The young Stox project comes with experience, seniority and a huge clientele courtesy of a ‘real’ company – invest.com. Unlike other ICOs, a mainstream company that joins the crypto world is not trivial. If Stox knows how to use this benefit, it could soon transform from being the younger sister of Augur and Gnosis to leading the field of predictions. Recall that the latter two have not yet come out with a product and have been in development for a long time. On the other hand, Augur and Gnosis are well-known in the crypto world and should not be taken lightly as they are strong competitors.

The volatility that the market has undergone over the past few months has left it hungry for innovation, creating fertile ground for ideas, such as Stox, to grow in. The project aims to provide a usable product with a broad user base and high liquidity in a very short period of time.

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